


tell me the story?

by JustAnotherWriterChica



Category: Call the Midwife
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-10-03 23:51:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17293682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAnotherWriterChica/pseuds/JustAnotherWriterChica
Summary: As Lucille and Valerie’s relationship grows and progresse, Lucille comes to find that some of their most intimate moments are centered around the scars and marks she’s discovered on Valerie’s body.





	tell me the story?

**Author's Note:**

> hi guys! this is my first time writing for CtM but i absolutely adore the show and i definitely think Valerie/Lucille should get the love they deserve so here’s my contribution. i’m sorry if it’s a bit bad, i only ever had time to write as i was basically falling asleep but hopefully i did them some justice? i hope you enjoy!

By the second month of their relationship Lucille had discovered precisely five scars on her girlfriend’s body. None of which had a normal origin story by any accounts, ranging from absolutely absurd to life threateningly heroic. One of them Lucille had even witnessed the formation of herself only two weeks ago; another stupid heroic act.

 

Scar number one had actually been found before their secret romance had begun.

 

One night when Lucille had been sitting downstairs to monitor the phone while reading a book she heard the front door slowly creak open followed by some muttering. Putting her novel down she made her way to the entrance hall where she spotted Valerie inspecting her shoes, sweater only properly on one arm and top buttons of her uniform undone in what looked to be a half assed attempt in undressing. “Have an interesting night there Valerie?”

 

The woman in question let out a strangled gasp, dropping the shoes in her hands as she pivoted to face Lucille. “You’re like a bloody ghost moving through this house sometimes I swear.” Valerie rested one hand on her chest while she waited for her heart rate to fall again but Lucille could only chuckle at the scene in front of her.

 

“Seriously Valerie, couldn’t wait to get to your room before undressing?” Lucille moved forward to take the woman’s sweater from her shoulders when she caught a whiff of a rather putrid smell. She crinkled her noise as she took the sweater from Valerie anyways, giving it a sniff before discovering that it was the source of the stink. Lucille held it at a distance before questioning, “What in the world did you do to this poor thing, it smells like it’s been sitting in a dumpster!”

 

“Ah, that is because it was. One of my shoes also has a persistent dog poo smell if you were wondering. Thanks to the Jefferson twins and their need for trouble this outfit is absolutely rotten and I’m exhausted from chasing those little boys as well as dealing with their mother’s long labor.” The poor woman looked as tired as she sounded, deep bags had formed under her eyes and her form slouched more with every word. Her response really wasn’t a full explanation of the situation but she decided not to press the issue further. Laundry was being done the next morning anyways.

 

Lucille tossed the sweater onto a nearby chair and led the brunette through to the dining room where she had been staked out. “Why don’t I make you some tea and a sandwich, I assume you haven’t eaten in a few hours now?” There was a tired nod. “You just sit here darlin’ and let me take care of ya for now.”

 

Valerie didn’t have the energy to protest so she sat in her chair and fiddled with the undone buttons of her uniform for a few minutes before Lucille came back with everything. She placed the full plate in front of the Londoner when she noticed something that made her gasp, “Val what is that?”

 

“My undergarments? Thought you’d be fine with it, pretty sure you have a similar pair?” Valerie was slightly confused as she began to dig into her sandwich. She was interrupted though when prodding fingers landed on a spot on her chest, just above where her bra began. “Oh that! It’s nothing really. This sandwich is very good.”

 

Lucille’s eyebrow shot to her hairline as she listened to her friend’s words. Nothing? What she was currently staring at wasn’t nothing, it was a small grouping of burn marks that while they appeared to be old also looked remarkably cigarette shaped. When Valerie noticed Lucille still staring she put down the sandwich and started to button up her uniform again. “Honestly Lucille, it’s nothing. It happened years ago and I’ve moved on and it’s okay.”

 

“It most certainly is not okay! Who did such a thing to you? When did it happen?” Lucille grabbed one of Valerie’s hands in her own and squeezed, hoping to convince the girl to share with her. “I’m only asking because I care about what happens to you, in the past, present, and future.”

 

Valerie was glad Lucille wasn’t touching her chest anymore because the other woman definitely would’ve felt her heart pounding at that anymore. The sentiment however, was enough to bring her around to tell the story. “Fine, if you’re gonna be nosy. I was fourteen and my mum was uh, not in a fantastic place nor was she keeping company with a fantastic man. I came home from school one day and saw him taking from the jar mum kept the rainy day money in, we had both been working hard for that money for years. Anyways, I started shouting, he started shouting, one thing led to another and he grabbed me. He pressed his cigarette into me a few times before my mother came sprinting through the door, he was gone after that and I don’t think she could look at me with a clean conscious for almost a year.”

 

When Valerie finished her story she wasn’t crying or shaking with anger, she was actually oddly emotionless and Lucille wasn’t sure that was a good thing either but she let it be. Valerie was open with people but Lucille had always known that there were some things she just wanted guarded and left unspoken. Sensing that the matter was done with for now and didn’t need to be touched on anymore, Lucille simply nodded and readjusted her grip on Valerie’s hand, intertwining their fingers. With her free hand she pushed Valerie’s sandwich closer to her and grabbed her book from the end of the table, “I’ll sit with you while you finish that up, I’m sorry for bringing it up.”

 

Lucille went back to reading when she saw Valerie nod and pick up her food once again. They sat there in comfortable silence for another twenty minutes as the Poplar girl ate her sandwich and downed her tea, hands still laced together until eventually Valerie pulled away to go to bed. As she passed Lucille to walk towards the hall, Valerie presses a kiss to the other woman’s cheek. “Thank you for tonight Lucille.”

 

 

 

The second scar was discovered the morning that they had their first kiss. It was a clear, cool spring morning and Lucille had managed to wake up just as the sun was rising. Rather than go back to sleep the young nurse decided she would go out and sit in the back garden to watch the sunrise, maybe read a little bit if she felt so inclined. She shrugged on a robe and quietly made her way downstairs, making sure Phyllis was still asleep and being extra careful to tiptoe by the room the other midwives shared. She was pretty sure she had heard Trixie come home only an hour or two ago.

 

Lucille passed the kitchen, noticed a cupboard was open and had to smile to herself about what she assumed was Sister Monica Joan’s midnight snack. She was so happy she was being so quiet about moving around though because when she finally made it to the back door she opened it to see beauty unlike any she’d known before.

 

Valerie had apparently had the same idea Lucille did but had been quicker to the punch. The Poplar girl was sat on the wooden bench in the center of the garden in her blue uniform, sweater wrapped around her as she hugged her arms to herself and hat resting slightly off center upon her head. Val’s eyes were shut and her head was tilted back as she took in the first rays of sunlight, the rays which were touching her just enough to give her an angelic wash. It was picture perfect and wonderful enough that Lucille knew she should go before she did something rash.

 

As she turned to head back inside the door creaked rather loudly and Lucille paused as she knew she was busted. “Lucille! What are you doing out here so early?” Valerie called out.

 

The Jamaican girl pivoted once more, “I woke up a bit early so I thought I’d come read outside but I don’t want to bother you.”

 

“Oh nonsense, you could never bother me!” Valerie fixed her with a winning grin before she patted the bench space next to her. “Please come sit with me? Sunrises are so much better with a partner.”

 

Lucille knew she could never say no to that smile so she padded her way down the stairs and plopped herself down next to Valerie. The brunette nodded, “mhm, that’s much better.”

 

Valerie scooter closer so that they were sitting shoulder to shoulder, never one to shy away from a touch that one, and tilted her head back once more. She’d barely shut her eyes when she felt a finger on her jawline. Valerie froze and popped one eye open, “yes?”

 

Lucille had her gaze fixated on the underside of Valerie’s chin, “And where in the world did this come from?”

 

“This one isn’t as bad I promise, actually kind of a funny story.” Valerie pulled Lucille’s hand away from her face so that she could look her level in the eye as she recounted the tale. “When I was seventeen a few friends and I were hanging out in the Black Sail, not even drinking when I got dared to do some stupid stunt. Don’t even remember what the original date was but it involved walking on table tops.”

 

Lucille smirked and shook her head, “Things never go well for girls on tabletops.”

 

“They absolutely do not!” Valerie chuckled. “Anyways, I had the bright idea to also take off my shoes before doing it because if I was only wearing socks I wouldn’t really be dirtying the tables as bad, which sounded reasonable in my head. Then within maybe seven seconds of being on the first table I slipped and fell, hit my chin on the way down and busted it clean open. Had to get stitches and they never healed properly, thus, scar. It’s so faded I mostly forget it though.”

 

“Valerie Dyer you are a walking whirlwind and I am somewhat perplexed at how you’ve made it this far in life. In one piece.” Lucille brought her hand back up to Val’s chin once more, cupping it as she ran a finger along the scarred skin. She hoped she wasn’t making a mistake with this but from the audible hitch of the other midwife’s breath she was fairly certain she had been reading the situation right all along. “I’m indescribably happy you have though.”

 

Lucille thought she was going to end up rambling a bit more if she was being honest but as soon as the last word left her mouth there was a soft pair of lips pressing against hers. It wasn’t a perfect kiss, Valerie’s lips were a little chapped and Lucille was certain she still had a bit of morning breath, but in that perfect moment she couldn’t bring herself to care. Lucille was smiling into the kiss and Valerie was pressing herself impossibly closer and everything seemed right.

 

They stayed that way, momentarily perfect, for a few more seconds before breaking apart enough to rest their foreheads together. Valerie let out a soft sigh, “You’ve no idea how long I’ve been wanting to do that.”

 

Lucille grinned and gave her a quick peck before whispering, “Trust me when I say, I do.”

 

 

 

The third scar was accidentally revealed when Valerie got sick in the middle of the night. To this day they still weren’t certain what had taken hold of Valerie but for 36 hours the poor girl looked like death warmed over.

 

One night Lucille had gone to bed content, having spent her evening off at the cinema with Valerie and then dancing at the Gateway. Lucille had been beyond terrified to go but once they were dancing she found she was having the time of her life. Valerie was a surprisingly good dancer for someone so blatantly clumsy, must’ve come from all those years with her aunt.

 

At two o’ clock in the morning though Lucille felt a gentle shaking on her shoulder. “Psst. Lucille, I need your help.” When Lucille blinked her eyes open she identified the head of blonde hair in front of her as Trixie.

 

“Let me get my uniform. Three minutes.”Lucille mumbled, still half asleep, into her pillow.

 

Seconds later she found her blankets were being rather rudely pulled back when Trixie whisper shouted, “No, no, no. I have a delivering mother I have to get to but poor Valerie is sick as a dog and I don’t want to leave her by herself.”

 

“I’m up.” The words _Valerie_ and _sick_ got the former librarian’s attention and she felt a jolt of energy run through her body. “You go take care of mother and baby, I’ll take care of Valerie. She’s still in your room?”

 

Lucille watched as Trixie’s face screwed up in the dark, now that her eyes had adjusted. “She might still be there but when I was leaving the room she was muttering something about the bathroom. I’d check in there on your way. I have to go now, but good luck.”

 

Trixie ducked right back out of the room, leaving Lucille to pull on a robe before venturing out into the hallway. She was going to beeline to the other bedroom but put on the brakes when she saw light coming from under the bathroom door.

 

“Valerie? Can I come in love?” Lucille pressed her ear against the door but didn’t hear any form of response so she just pushed into the room anyways. What she saw in front of her was downright pitiful; Valerie was curled into a ball hunched over the toilet and shivering even though she looked to be drenched in sweat already. “Oh sweet girl, what happened?”

 

“Haven’t the slightest.” Valerie whispered in response, teeth chattering all the while. Lucille rummaged through the cabinet to find a cloth and wet it with cold water before pressing it to Val’s forehead. The sick girl seemed to relax a bit and Lucille held the cloth in place as she moved a stool over to sit beside her girlfriend.

 

Pushing back sweat soaked hair, Lucille commented, “You were feeling perfect just a couple hours ago, how did we end up here?” All she got in response was a disgruntled noise so she left talking alone for the moment and focused on just running the cloth over her feverish skin. Valerie leaned her back against Lucille’s legs but kept her head hovering just above the toilet, knowing that sooner or later her dinner was going to make a reappearance.

 

It turned out to be sooner.

 

And not only did her dinner come back up, but also what was once probably breakfast and lunch as well. When that was all out of her system she was left to dry heave for a few minutes too as Lucille rubbed soothing circles in her back and push her hair out of her face. After about ten minutes of the dry heaving alone Valerie leaned back into Lucille, “I think I’m done. At least, I hope I am.”

 

“Okay lets get you back to bed sweetheart.” Lucille moved to get up but Valerie grabbed a fistful of her robe to grab the other woman’s attention. Shaking her head, Valerie asked, “Can you draw me a bath instead please? I just feel gross and I need new clothes anyways.”

 

Lucille gave her a soft smile as she looked at the state Valerie was in once again. Some of her color was coming back already but she was still absolutely drenched in sweat and seemed perfectly exhausted from repeatedly emptying her stomach. “Of course Val. I’ll start running the water and run to get you some new clothes while it fills, alright? Try not to move much.”

 

Valerie hummed a noise that sounded like an agreement so Lucille slipped out of the room only to walk straight into Phyllis. “Oh good morning lass! You were out of bed rather early today, everything alright?”

 

“Oh yes! Well no, I’m perfectly fine but poor Valerie is in there sick as a dog. Trixie woke me up before she had to go out to come look after her and that was maybe half an hour ago.” Lucille winced as she heard Valerie moan and heave once more.

 

Glancing at the door with an odd look, Phyllis gave her a nod, “Right well you know where all the medicine and such supplies are lass, so I think I shall go about my business downstairs instead. Just going to pop in to grab a few things and I’ll leave you two to it. Don’t worry, I’ll tell Sister Julienne to leave you on phone duty today and take Miss Dyer off the rotation.”

 

Lucille gave the older woman her thanks before moving down the hall to the first bedroom, rifling through Valerie’s drawers quickly to find a pair of loose night clothes. When she returned to the bathroom once more she found that Valerie had managed to sit on the edge of the tub and was brushing her teeth lazily. When Lucille walked in Valerie’s eyes lit up a bit more past the sick glaze that had been occupying them and she chuckled at the state of the woman.

 

“Are you sure you’ve got the strength to be washing yourself? You’re teetering on that ledge as it is.” Lucille watched as Valerie tried to prove how competent she still was by starting to get undressedonly to get caught in her own shirt. “Okay maybe I need some help, but the undergarments stay on. It’ll be like a dip at the pool. This is not how I imagined you undressing me would happen.”

 

A furious blush spread to the midwife’s cheeks, it wasn’t how she had imagined this happening either but she was more than happy to do it. She ripped the band aid off though and got to work pulling Valerie’s arms through her sleeves. With limited struggling between the two of them, Valerie’s shirt was off within twenty seconds and Lucille sucked in a deep breath as her hands started to move towards the only article left to remove.

 

Before she could reach the drawstring of Valerie’s flannel pants though, there was a clammy hand weakly grabbing her own and Lucille looked up to meet her girlfriend’s gaze. “I’m pretty sure I can take care of these so you can go if you want, I know that I’m pretty uh, well, gross.”

 

“Oh hush, my whole job consists of taking care of people when they’re sick and gross, you’re not getting rid of me that easily. Now, can I help you the rest of the way or are you going to keep fussing?” Lucille stood with her hands on her hips until she watched a tired smile spread across the brunette’s face. This time Lucille moved quickly and basically yanked Val’s pants clean off before nudging her into the warm water.

 

Once Valerie was immersed up to her shoulders Lucille moved to shut off the water when something caught her eye. There was a patch of little lines etched into Valerie’s shoulder blade, maybe about four looking to be about an inch long at the most. She desperately wanted to ask about that new discovery but decided it could wait for now.

 

“Alright let’s see about cleaning you up miss.”

 

A half hour later and one close call when Valerie announced that she thought she was going to be sick once again, the brunette was wrapped up in towels and being led back to her room. “Want me to leave you to get dressed by yourself or do you still need help?”

 

“Should be fine to get dressed love, but you can stay if you’d like? Just uh, shut your eyes?” Valerie asked so sheepishly that Lucille had to fight very hard not to burst out in laughter. Instead she just nodded and turned around to face the door.

 

“Uh Val?”

 

“Yes darling?” Valerie grunted as she shucked off her wet undergarments.

 

“In the bath I noticed something that I wanted to ask about. Can I?”

 

There was a nervous laugh from behind her, “I would prefer you did, this suspense is killing me quicker than the virus.”

 

“I noticed a few cuts on your right shoulder? They looked to be old, but I was just wondering where they came from.”

 

“Admiring my body were you? Good thing I had some modesty or else we mighta been in a very different situation in there huh?” Valerie’s voice sounded from somewhere on the floor it seemed.

 

Lucille was so glad she wasn’t facing the other woman because a raging blush flooded her cheeks and she couldn’t make her mouth form a real word for a few seconds. “I was being serious you nitwit! Where did they come from?”

 

“A tumble in my aunt’s bar if you most know. I dropped a glass and then tripped over my own feet and fell on top of the shards, they got infected because it was dirty bar glass on a dirty bar floor and never healed right. Happy now, miss?” Valerie laughed as she remembered that day, she howled like she’d gotten her arm chopped off rather than just briefly used as a pin cushion. “I’m not particularly graceful now as it is, but you should have seen me back then. You can turn now.”

 

When Lucille turned back around she found Valerie tucked back under her covers already, trash can within barfing distance and eyes starting to droop. She stepped forward and ran her hand through Val’s short locks. “You are such a danger to yourself Valerie Dyer.”

 

“I’ll start making disclaimers when I go on rounds.” Valerie smirked as she relaxed under Lucille’s touch. She was practically asleep by the time she heard her girlfriend whisper, “Go back to sleep now, I’ll come check in on you in a few hours sweet girl.”

 

 

 

Valerie revealed the fourth scar herself one night when she woke up next to Lucille.

 

It was another night where Valerie had a labor that lasted well into the night while the other woman sat by the phone waiting for a call and her girlfriend’s safe return. As soon as Valerie came through the door she walked straight into the parlor where Lucille was reading, curled up under a blanket that she gladly pulled back to make room. The brunette kicked off her shoes and tucked herself under her girlfriend’s arms. Within two minutes the Londoner was out cold, leaving Lucille to listen for the phone and rub patterns up and down her back.

 

The last time they had done this their roles were reversed and Valerie had started to doze off herself when she heard footsteps coming down the stairs. She promptly shoved Lucille clean off the couch and scurried off to the kitchen. When Phyllis found a rather confused Lucille sitting on the floor and rubbing her bottom, which took the brunt of her fall, she seemed rather smug. If Lucille had to guess she would say the older woman already had some clue what was going on but nothing had been mentioned about it so she just left it alone for the time being.

 

However, tonight all was quiet as Lucille flipped through the pages of her book, one ear listening for the phone while the other was trained on the upstairs hall. What she was not expecting to hear however, was whimpering coming from the woman whose head was tucked under her chin. She felt Valerie’s body tense up against her chest, hands balling tightly in the material of Lucille’s uniform. There was a brief period where she considered just letting the girl ride it out, it was probably just a bad dream anyways, but then she started tossing and the whimpering continued.

 

With a light prodding of her shoulder, Lucille whispered, “Valerie? Want to wake up for me darling?” The whimpering stopped and Lucille thought she’d just worked her way out of her terror until the fidgeting started up again.

 

She gave her girlfriend a bit of a shove this time and it did the trick. Valerie shot straight up and if the smaller woman hadn’t had her arms wrapped around the brunette she would’ve tumbled right off the couch. It took Valerie a couple of quick pants to catch her breath before she looked fully lucid and aware, casting a sheepish look down at Lucille who was still laying underneath her. “Sorry love, just a bit of an active dream is all.”

 

“And if I didn’t know you better I would believe that, but I do, so quit lying. What’s got ya tossin’ and turnin’ so bad?” Lucille cocked her head and gave her girlfriend her best disapproving glare, which worked every time on the Poplar girl. It didn’t fail her this time either.

 

Valerie slouched a bit as she deflated, her face dropping just as much as her shoulders. “Well, nosy, if you must know I was dreaming about the army.”

 

“Any specific memory from the army?” Lucille was trying to be careful about her prying but she so desperately wanted to know what the girl was thinking about. Valerie never really spoke about her time in the army, she had a motor mouth for every other subject but mention anything about her time serving and she only supplies the vaguest answers.

 

Valerie had a far off look in her eye now that told her girlfriend that she was caught in the throes of memories that were probably worse than what she could imagine. And Lucille had spent some time imagining up a lot of different horrid scenarios. “We don’t have to talk about it Val. We can go back to-“

 

“Can I show you something?” Valerie leaned forward a bit and she was practically looming over the Jamaican woman. After receiving an eager nod, Val started to hike up the hem of her uniform towards her hips, pulling part of her slip up with her.

 

“Valerie I hardly think this is the time or place to be doing this!” Lucille whisper yelled as she began to sit up, pulling the other woman’s dress back down. Valerie simply swatted her hand away though and used the other to gently push her back into laying down.

 

“Could ya ju- just watch. You’ll see in a sec.” As Valerie pulled all her layers back up to her waist she pivoted so that her hip was the only piece of exposed skin Lucille could see. She was fixing to protest again when Lucille realized what she was supposed to be staring at. “Is that-?”

 

“That’s what I been dreaming about Luce, it’s got me tossing and turning most nights lately. A patient of mine is the cousin of a nurse I worked with in the army, she was actually my only real friend there, and I can’t stop remembering. It’s been on my mind all day, every day for the past week and now its following me into my dreams.” Valerie let out a huff as she finished, feeling like she could finally breath a little more. She went to pull her dress back down but found a pair of hands had taken up residence on her hip instead, inspecting the scar left behind.

 

Lucille felt her eyes begin to water a bit, not only at where the scar must’ve come from but also for her girlfriend’s clear anguish. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? I could’ve helped ya or ya could’ve at least gotten some things off your chest.”

 

“Ah.” It wasn’t really meant to be a response, just a noise Valerie let escape as she tried to control her own emotions. “Mm. Because I’m trying really hard to suppress those kinds of memories and talking about them doesn’t really help that process.” Valerie tilted her head back as she tried to stop the onslaught of fresh tears. “Seems that wasn’t the best way to go about this though, yeah?”

 

Lucille pulled the brunette down from where she’d been kneeling and into her lap, running a hand over her back in slow, circular patterns. “You want to just cry?” Shake of the head. “You want to just talk?” Hesitant nod of the head.

 

“Think I’m gonna wind up doing both actually so... brace yourself.” Lucille nodded once more and gave Valerie her hand to hold. The grip that took hold of her was strong as she began to recount the story of her scarred bullet hole.

 

“Me and a couple of the girls I knew from the base in Hong Kong were told that we were being sent to Germany for a few months. I was thrilled to be leaving Hong Kong, the trip was less than fantastic, but the thought of being somewhere new had me so excited. That trip was where I became friends with Irene, we shared a sense of humor and sometimes that’s all you had in those camps. Anyways, one day me and Irene are walking back from eating lunch in our tent when shouting starts up from every direction.”

 

Valerie took a shuddering breath as she thought about what comes next, only finding the words when she feels Lucille give her a reassuring squeeze. “The shouting started up and then the first couple shots rang out. People started running, that part of the base was mostly nurses, doctors, and communication guys anyways. None of the brawn or guns we needed for help were there in time. Anyways, me and Irene took off running for the tent with the most patients, the ones who were unable to protect themselves, and on our way there we ran into one of ‘em. Blonde boy, shouting in german, waving a gun about like it was a toy.”

 

Lucille tensed up under Valerie as the story went on, breath becoming slightly shallower. “At first it was like he hadn’t seen us, even though I practically body slammed him on our way to the tent, just had this wild look in his eyes. So we took off running again when I see Irene look back and just freeze in her tracks, she had such a steel look about her face. I tried to grab her, pull her along with me but that boy had already pulled the trigger by the time I could turn fully round. He let off another round and it hit me in the hip before one of our men shot him.

 

We were told later on that a couple of Nazi sympathizers had been hiding out in the camp until they thought they could do the most damage. They only killed four people though. Suppose we should figure ourselves lucky but I just can’t. After I got shot I was in and out of it for a few days in the hospital, injury itself wasn’t all that bad but the trauma was more than enough to put me down for a bit. When I woke up they told me Irene had died. She died protecting me.” Valerie finished as her lip began to quiver, eyes began to water, and voice crack. She’d been crying so much lately she was confused as to how she still had any tears left.

 

If she closed her eyes she didn’t even have to work all that hard for the memory to come back. The sensations from the memory were overwhelming; the gunshot sounded like it was right next to her ear, a strong scent of pine still filled her nostrils, and she could definitely feel the phantom pain of the gunshot as it tore through her side. Honestly she had no idea how she’d been so lucky that it’d been a through and through which missed all things vital, she had recovered in practically no time.

 

When Valerie looked over Lucille was already quietly crying which just completely did her in, letting herself be rightfully devastated and seek comfort in loving arms. Valerie slumped forward and rested her head on her girlfriend’s chest, thankful for the arms that automatically encompassed her and pulled her in tighter. They were both shaking as they tried to keep the noise down but eventually Lucille calmed down enough to control her emotions once more. She continued to hold her Poplar girl close though, whispering sweet nothings as they rocked back and forth.

 

After maybe ten minutes of this Valerie began to calm down, her silent body racking sobs turning into small quivers and sniffles. “Oh darlin’ I’m so sorry, I know how hard it is to lose someone to such senseless violence. There’s nothing in the world that’ll make it better or right for you and that’s okay. You can’t let it consume you though.”

 

“I know Luce,” she felt the soft whisper more than heard it as Valerie murmured into her neck. “She’d love to see her cousin’s baby, always talked about wanting a gaggle of her own little ducklings, she’d say.”

 

Lucille pulled away from Valerie so that they could be looking each in the eyes as she said her next words, wanting the brunette to understand how much she meant them. “There is no doubt in my mind that she’s looking down on you and that cousin of hers every day, sharing the excitement and the stress and everything else. I’m certain that she’s proud of you for where you’ve gone since the army and who knows? Maybe she’s even the one that led you to her cousin in the first place. She’s still with you. She sacrificed herself for you so that you could have all this wonderful life, she wouldn’t want you wasting your time on tears.”

 

Gently swiping at the tear tracks that ran down her lover’s cheeks Lucille gave her a sad smile. “Don’t let your grief bury you sweet girl, mourning can only last so long before it consumes you. I don’t think Irene would want that for you.”

 

Valerie heaved out a sigh, shaking her head as a small smile formed on her lips. She leaned forward once more and pressed a soft kiss to Lucille’s lips. “How is it you always know what to say?”

 

After pressing a quick peck to the brunette’s forehead, Lucille shrugged, “The right words always just seem to find me when it comes to you.” Valerie sucked in a sharp breath and looked as though she was about to cry again so Lucille cut her off before they both ended up in hysterics once more. “Come on love, let’s lie down again and maybe you can get a bit more sleep this time around.”

 

 

 

Like she mentioned before, Lucille actually witnessed the cause of Valerie’s most recent scar. It made her stomach flip to think of just how everything happened that night and just how lucky they’d both been.

 

One late fall night Lucille found herself pedaling down the streets of Poplar, just returning from her last home visit when she heard her name being shouted. She slammed on the brakes and turned round only to find that her girlfriend was running down the street after her in the hazy evening. “Valerie! What are you doing out here?”

 

“I’m so happy to see you, what a nice coincidence! I was coming out to the call box when I noticed you pedaling by and the timing could not have been better, love.” Valerie explained herself as she jogged to close the distance between herself and the smaller woman. When she drew closer a smile lit up her face, one of those thousand watt ones that made Lucille a bit weak in the knees. “Hi. Have a good day?”

 

Lucille threw her head back in laughter at the question before probing, “It was good darling, but wasn’t there a reason you were running after me?”

 

Smacking her hand to her forehead Valerie explained, “Right, uh, bit of a long labor going on and I need backup. We’ve been going at all day and she’s still not fully dilated yet, I’m still good energy wise but I’m starting to fade so it would be nice to have someone else there. Especially if it’s you.”

 

Valerie winked at the Jamaican woman who gave her a light smack in return. “Run along back now Val and I’ll be right behind you.”

 

“You’re fantastic!” Valerie exclaimed before running back through the old brown door she’d emerged from. Lucille followed behind her by a few minutes and when she opened the door she was amazed by the scene in front of her, she always was.

 

There was her girlfriend, her ray of sunshine, trying her hardest to keep up with the pregnant woman in front of her. The poor woman was pushing through a long contraction, clinging to Valerie, who was doing her absolute best to keep them both standing. “That’s a girl, you’re doing so wonderful,” the brunette cooed as she swayed back and forth. Now that there was adequate lighting Lucille could see that both women were glowing from sweat as they bounced the last of their energy off of each other. As she looked on Lucille wished that she could capture this moment for Valerie, show her how naturally gifted she was and how brilliant she was at helping people.

 

It was exhilarating and slightly breathtaking to watch.

 

“Oh Gemma,” Valerie breathed as she noticed the added presence, “this is Nurse Anderson! She’s gonna be helping us out, seeing as how we’re both getting a wee bit tired, yeah?”

 

The new mother, Gemma, turned her head from where it was rested against the midwife’s shoulder to welcome the newcomer. There was a smile on her face but Lucille noticed she almost had to fight to keep it there when they made eye contact. That might lead to an interesting evening. “Hi there nurse, welcome aboard. We’ve already got the kettle on if you want something to drink and—“

 

Gemma’s speech faltered as she was overcome with a new contraction and Lucille took the opportunity to slip into the kitchen, occupying herself with fixing them all some tea. She thought over that brief interaction as she went about looking through the kitchen for cups; hopefully Gemma wasn’t racist, just tired and disappointed because another nurse meant a hard labor? She’d seemed nice enough anyways and Valerie liked her so she couldn’t be all bad, certainly she couldn’t judge someone off of one glance.

 

Lucille had been so caught up in her thoughts that she had totally missed the other two women moving from pacing in the living room to sitting on the bed. Following the noise of pained moans and groans, Lucille found the bedroom easily enough and presented the tea to both women. Valerie practically threw hers back like it was a shot of something Trixie might mix up but Gemma just shook her head, “Thanks nurse but I think if I have any now it’ll just be coming right back up. Already had one incident too many today right Nurse Dyer?”

 

Valerie’s nose scrunched up at the question, recalling how terribly an attempted lunch had gone. “Well you should be able to keep it all down soon enough, I think we’re well on our way to you being able to push now. My guess is that we’ll have baby here in the next half hour.”

 

Gemma let out a sigh as she rolled her head back, muttering a prayer while Valerie glanced over at her girlfriend. She looked absolutely exhausted, but only for the briefest of moments before she was back to encouraging her patient and treating her every need. While they did that Lucille went about making sure that everything else was prepared in the room, water, towels, the bedsheets, and everything else.

 

The newest midwife was coming back from a trip to the front closet for another towel when she heard the front door knob jiggling. Rather than waiting for the person on the outside to fiddle with the lock, Lucille went ahead and just opened the door. “Oh, Mr. Thomason? You’re just in time, baby should be here any minute now if you want to come sit down.”

 

When Lucille took a pause she realized that there was a strong scent of alcohol rolling off the man in front of her, bottle of what looked to be rum actually still in hand, and that he looked less than steady on his feet. He also looked mildly irritated at her, never a good sign. Oh how she wished she could just shut the door on him and ignore this for now. “And just who the hell do you think you are?”

 

“I’m one of the midwives helping your wife.” Lucille answered as she took a few steps back from the door, then a few more as Mr. Fletcher began to advance towards her. “The baby is almost here so if you don’t mind I’m just going to go back to helping her.”

 

As Lucille turned to scurry back down the hall a rough hand caught her arm and kept her in place. When she turned back Mr. Fletcher looked as red as a fire hydrant and was practically spitting from rage and inebriation as he yelled, “You get out of my house and find someone else! I’ll not have the likes of you or anyone your kind touching my wife, let alone my child! Now **go**!”

 

It felt like his grip tightened with every word and Lucille yelped as she tried to pull away from him, if only she could just get a little bit closer to the bedroom that Valerie and Gemma were in. There were loud shouts coming from that direction that signaled the baby was well on its way, meaning Valerie was rather occupied at the moment and no one was coming to her rescue. Lucille tried tugging her arm away one more time before using the only move she had available to her for dealing with the man towering over her; she reared one leg back and kicked him in the shins with all her might.

 

That was enough for Thomason to let go of her as he went pitching forwards with a howl of pain. Before the large man was even fully sprawled on the floor Lucille was turning to run towards the safety of the small bedroom. “Valerie!” She only managed to take one step before she felt a hand wrap around her ankle, tripping her and sending her falling to the ground as well.

 

Hitting the floor with a thud, Lucille panicked and rolled on to her back to look up at the massive, fuming man standing over her. Maybe if I cower enough he’ll just take pity on me, she thought as he picked up the now smashed rum bottle. “I told you to get out ya piece of filth.” Thomason heaved as he raised his clenched fist, jagged glass bottle still clutched right within his grasp when Lucille noticed the shouting in the background had ceased.

 

Before she could think of much else there was a blur moving in the corner of her eye and then Valerie appeared in front of her. Mr. Thomason looked like he was about to shout some more, or just begin to throw punches, when Valerie gave the big man a pop in the jaw that sent him reeling backwards into the couch. When he pushed himself back up with a grunt Valerie simply shoved him back down once more, watching as his head slammed back into its wooden frame. The man let out another great howl of pain as he staggered back to his feet, swinging about wildly with his fists as well as the broken glass. Valerie did her best to jump out of the way of his swipes but had to catch herself from tripping over a pair of shoes into another chair at one point, which was when Thomason finally landed a hit.

 

With one large arc Thomason brought the jagged glass around and it found purchase in the side of Valerie’s arm where it got dragged a few inches before coming out again. Lucille thought Valerie would’ve given in after that but when she watched the other woman look down at the cut there was no fear in her gaze, just pure rage. For as wasted as he was, that shift still managed to catch Mr. Thomason’s attention and he seemed to regret his actions. He attempted to lean back out of the way of the brunette’s reach, but before he even had the chance Valerie had her fist reared back. With a hard swing she made direct contact with his nose, using so much force that he just dropped immediately, blood gushing out of his probably broken nose.

 

Valerie took a step away from the man and sucked in a great breath, calling out, “Gemma? Start to get yourself ready, we’re taking you to the maternity ward just up the street.”

 

Lucille scrambled to her feet only a second later, stepping over a now unconscious Mr. Thomason to reach her girlfriend. “What on earth did you do that for?”

 

The brunette’s head snapped up from where she had been inspecting her fresh cut, which was a bit too deep for her liking. “ _What_? What do you mean? I just saved you from that horrible man. That could’ve been so much worse!”

 

“You got hurt Valerie, look at that cut and do not pretend that it doesn’t hurt none. I can see you wincing already. Do not do things like that.” Lucille was practically fuming as she set about investigating the new cut, which was too deep for her liking as well, and looked around for where her medical kit could be. She was craning her head to look down the hall when she felt a shaky hand cup her cheek and gently push her face back so that they would be looking at each other. As steely grey met brown eyes Lucille felt herself starting to tear up, processing everything that had just happened within a matter of maybe three minutes. She couldn’t believe it.

 

“Do not get yourself hurt, not for me, I am not worth you putting yourself at risk like that. Do you understand me? He quite literally could have killed you! Then what? Did you think about that before trying to be some damn hero, Valerie?” Lucille scolded even though tears were running down her cheeks and her voice was shaking something awful. She closed her eyes and let out a shaky breath, trying to calm herself, when Valerie pressed a quick kiss to her cheek.

 

When Lucille opened her eyes she found Valerie looking down at her with nothing but resolve in her eyes, looking unbelievably strong despite her slightly paler than normal complexion. “I would do that again and again if I had to Luce, if it meant protecting you then I would do it without question. Without hesitation. If you think I would ever just stand back and let something like that happen to you then you don’t know me. You are worth way more than me getting a little cut up, I’d give my life for you if I had to, because you’re my whole world.

 

I wake up and you’re the first thing I think of, I go to bed and you re the last thing on my mind and I think about you all the hours in between. No one else knows me like you do, has seen me and cared for me the way you do, and I can’t live without that now. I love you Lucille Anderson, so, so much.” Valerie finished with a soft smile, obviously a little shy again after such a grand admission. Neither of them had said those three words yet, both of them had thought it plenty, but Valerie felt like the adrenaline from her scuffle had given her the strength to put it out there. She was glad she had too because she was quite enjoying watching the woman who always knew what to say flounder for her words. “Cat got your—“

 

Before she could even finish the thought Lucille was pressing her lips against the brunette’s and losing herself in all her emotions. The residual fear, the anger, the bewilderment, but more importantly the passion, the vulnerability, and the overwhelming love. Valerie wrapped her still fully functioning arm around her girlfriend and pulled her in close, pressing their bodies together as she deepened the kiss with a soft sigh.

 

Thank God Gemma was immobile still, Lucille knows this isn’t a moment they could’ve just pushed of until they could steal a private minute together.

 

When the darker woman finally pulled back from the kiss she only moved far enough that she could still rest her forehead against the Poplar girl’s. “I love you too Valerie Dyer, with my entire being and for all my days. I love you.”

 

Valerie grinned and pressed another quick peck to her girlfriend’s lips before pulling away for good. “Suppose we should probably start sorting this mess out yeah? Maternity ward for Gemma and police holding for Mr. Thomason?” Valerie nudged his still unconscious form with the toe of her shoe before letting out a nervous laugh. “Ah, growing up in the streets of London gives you a bit of an advantage over these types of bastards.”

 

“Don’t be prideful in it, the oaf is going to be seething when he wakes up.” Lucille rolled her eyes as she took hold of Valerie’s now very bruised hand, pulling her back towards the bedroom. “Come on Val, we better start getting together before he wakes up for round two.”

 

“Of course, Luce.” Valerie let herself be pulled along before a new thought popped into her head and she exclaimed, “Oh, guess what! New scar!”

**Author's Note:**

> i know it was a little rough in some spots but i hope that was good enough for you all! please leave comments and kudos, they would be so appreciated!


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